Report published on protecting marine mammals on the Yorkshire Coast
It comes from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
A report has been published on how to protect marine mammals.
It comes as a minke whale's rare activity of leaping out of the water happened in the sea in Scarborough last week.
The report comes from the cross-party parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
Its Chair, Sir Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said: "This is an auspicious sign for the success of our report. We’ve made lots of recommendations for helping protect marine mammals – in the UK and abroad. But we could never in our wildest dreams have hoped to have them highlighted by a minke whale off the coast of my own back yard in Scarborough.
"That has now come to pass. Our report is well and truly launched. I like to think the whale is asking everyone to read the report - and asking the government to take its recommendations seriously."
He added: "We've moved on from the days of whaling when Whitby was a whale port, but now we do see some countries like Japan and Norway whaling for what they say is scientific purposes. Also, a lot of dolphins and porpoises are damaged by fishing activities and they're often damaged by ships.
"We don't really have enough data of how many these wonderful creatures there are. We're looking at maybe using AI with a lot of satellite imagery. It's very hard to spot a whale in the middle of the ocean, so we're maybe looking at AI or citizen scientists who are coming along and being able to spot some of these whales.
"Although we banned obviously the sale of whale meat in the UK, it's still possible for it to come through our ports and go out again. We've called for that to be banned as well. We need to use all the power at our disposable, including our soft powers, to bring pressure to bear on countries like Norway and Japan to get them to phase out and stop commercial whaling.
"We actually have very high levels of protection here in the UK. It's globally the problem where much of the sea is not controlled by a particular country. It's ensuring that better fishing techniques can be used and there's less chance of whales and other citations being caught in nets, so we can bring pressure to bear internationally.
"Ultimately we are the custodians of the planet. These are the most fantastic creatures. They're threatened in other ways; marine noise can affect their communication, development at sea can affect them as well so we need to, more than ever before, try and protect these creatures. Our report that we've published does give some key indicators to Government and I think internationally what we should be doing."
The report
A key recommendation in the report is that the government should not sign any new international trade deals unless they contain commitments to protect marine mammals such as dolphins and whales.
It says the report comes in the context of biodiversity declining at a rate unparalleled in human history.
Worldwide, the greatest threat to marine mammals is from ‘bycatch’ - or inadvertent trapping in fishing gear. A scientific paper suggests that over 650,000 marine mammals are killed in this way every year. As with all statistics on the issue, the true number is unclear.
Other threats include hunting for meat and body parts (such as walrus tusks). Hunting is still practised in various countries, including Norway, Iceland, Japan and the Faroe Islands.
Underwater noise – such as from offshore drilling – is another danger for animals which depend on their acute hearing more than any other sense. Marine mammals are also threatened by pollution, being hit by boats in busy shipping lanes, rising sea temperatures and disease.
The report recommended that the government should raise the issue of marine mammal welfare with countries which still engage in hunting at every opportunity. The UK’s ‘soft power’ should be used in this way wherever bilateral or multilateral talks take place, including at trade and fisheries negotiations, the report said.
The study also called for better monitoring of, and reporting on, bycatch – through the use of cameras or physical observers posted on ships. The Committee acknowledged that this would be difficult and costly for small fishing boat operators, so suggested this requirement be phased-in over several years, with smaller vessels being given more time and, where necessary, financial help to meet their obligations. The Committee called for an action plan on this, with targets and milestones, by December of this year.
The report said much of the story of marine mammals remains hidden deep in the oceans, and that more information was vital. It called for new solutions to monitor marine mammal populations such as the use of satellites, underwater microphones and artificial intelligence.
However, there is a legal loophole which allows some marine mammal body parts to be transshipped through UK ports. The report called on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to take urgent steps to close this loophole in the short term and introduce brand new legislation dedicated to protecting marine mammals in the long term.
Sir Robert added: "We are rightly appalled when magnificent whales or defenceless seals are deliberately slaughtered. We can and should do more to stop this as we sign new post-Brexit trade deals worldwide.
"But snarling these beautiful creatures in fishing gear wreaks a far greater toll. Starting with the biggest boats, then moving to the smallest – giving the small operators time to adjust – we must stop this industrial-scale killing. We owe it to our generations to come."
You can read the full report here.